


dark corners

by liionne



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Smut, Fuckbuddies, M/M, Semi-Public Sex, Shopping Malls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 17:50:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1950531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liionne/pseuds/liionne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shopping Mall AU</p><p>There's nothing dedicated about any of this. It's just sex. Sex and heavy flirting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	dark corners

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a post I made on my personal blog (star_twxrking). Unbeta'd because I'm the worst.

It's the shittiest job Leonard McCoy could have ever imagined himself having, period. And he was a paper boy on a street made up of 4 individual houses. He stocks the shelves, he mans the register, he listens to bullshit complaints about products that were no doubt made in a sweatshop in China, and he gets paid minimum wage for it. But he's in college- what more can he ask for?

"One more year." he tells himself, as he carries out an armful of men's Super Extra Skinny jeans and sets them on the shelf. He'd like to say that he was above all of that, that he wouldn't be seen dead in anything remotely resembling the monstrosity he's organising now, but he's literally wearing a pair, only his are black. Black and very clingy. He feels like he can't move his knees. He's been walking like a robot for the past three hours.

When a pair of jeans fall to the floor, he growls. His other colleague and fellow med student (well, sort of) Christine is on changing room duty. And even though she has to wear the god awful dresses they sell here, he'd still have called her out to pick up the pair of jeans if she was available. He can't see Geoffrey anywhere; apparently he's hiding through the back.

So Leonard has no choice; he bends and picks up the jeans, hearing what he's sure is a wolf whistle from behind him. His eyes narrow.

"I _knew_ there was a reason why I came in here."

He straightens out and he turns, eyes narrowing. As if he doesn't know who it is.

"What do you want, Kirk?"

He only uses 'Kirk' when he's mad at him. Which is always, funnily enough.

"I actually came in to buy a pair of jeans." Jim says. "Those ones. The ones in your hand."

"You mean the ones that are covered in floor sweepings and dust?" Leonard asks, eyebrows raising.

"The exact ones." Jim beams.

Prick, Leonard thinks. He tucks that pair under his arm, and grabs him a pair of jeans he knows fine well will fit. He's not about to divulge to anyone milling around in the store - the kid who's obviously skipping school and the old lady who looks a bit lost - how he knows that.

"They're $35." Leonard says. Jim shrugs.

"Worth it."

And Leonard knows fine well that he doesn't mean the jeans.

They've been doing this for a while. The back and forward thing: Jim goes into Leonard's store or Leonard goes into Jim's store and they flirt shamelessly, buying things they don't need, sneaking into the changing rooms for things that are pretty god damn unsavoury considering their location. It's never been anything more than that; teasing, flirting and casual sex.

Sometimes Leonard wishes it would be.

He leads Jim over to the register, scans the jeans, and bags them. With raised eyebrows, he hands them over to Jim.

"So you're on changing rooms tomorrow, I'm guessing?" Jim asks, and there's a smirk on his lips, a hidden meaning that only Leonard knows.

"Mm hm. You on the register?"

Maybe it's sad that they've got each other's rotas down to memory, or maybe it's dedication.

But no, it's not dedication. There's nothing dedicated about _any_ of this. It's just sex. Sex and heavy flirting.

And once again Leonard wonders if he doesn't want something more.

"Nope." Jim says, and his grin is wide, stretching across his face, meeting his ears, but it's still somewhat smug. "I've got the day off."

"So go and enjoy it." Leonard says, handing him the bag.

Jim's still grinning. "I plan to."

He leaves, and though Leonard's words meant he wanted him to go and enjoy his day off away from this god damn death trap, he knows that's not what's going to happen. He's going to be back at the start of Leonard's shift, just like he always does, because they might not be dedicated to one another, but they sure couldn't do without one another.

~*~

Leonard had a lecture in the morning, and now he has his shift at the store, and then he has a shift at the hospital. His shift at the hospital didn't end until midnight last night, and his stupid room mate had him up at five o'clock because he likes to get up and go for a run early but he apparently doesn't understand the concept of the word _quiet_ , so he's running on empty right now.

And yet still, when Jim all but skips into the store in the jeans Leonard sold him yesterday and drags him by the wrist (never the hand) to the changing rooms, he's more than willing to roll with it.

There's the familiar fumbling of clothing as they try to undress each other at the same time, the whispered words as they suck marks into each other's skin, as hands run through each other's hair, and there's a lot of making out until Leonard can finally get Jim turned around, pressed against the mirror and worked open, begging for his cock.

Their hips connecting definitely serves to wake him up.

They've done this before. They're good at this. They're quiet because this is still a store and it's still open, even if it noon on a Eednesday and so most likely dead. They known to lean against the mirror rather than the door, because the door rattles as they bump up against it whilst the mirror doesn't, even if the mirror _is_ a bit harder to clean afterwards.

Because Leonard's feeling generous he reaches round to stroke Jim's cock as he rolls his hips into him, the pace hard and fast and unrelenting- just how Jim likes it.

There are rules for this sort of thing. Of course there are. They keep quiet and they clean up and they never try missionary because this is just sex. They never made any sort of agreement, but it's just sex. There are unwritten rules that they both somehow know.

Jim comes over the mirror, eyes closed and head dipped, and Leonard comes still buried inside of him. And, before he can stop himself, he murmurs, "oh _god_ I love you."

And he tenses, because that wasn't meant to happen. He pulls out hastily, clumsily, and begins cleaning up.

"What're you gonna do on your day off?" Leonard asks, trying to sound nonchalant as they put their clothes back on. There's no one else in there, Leonard thinks, so he doesn't have to worry about being quite now that they're just chatting. And anyway, he has to clear the air. Pretend that never happened.

"Dunno. Sleep. Play video games. Eat whatever crap Spock's left in the fridge." Jim shrugs his shoulders.

"What? Nowhere to go, no plans with friends...?"

Jim looks somewhat startled. He hadn't actually looked at Leonard since he had stepped away, but now he's blushing, and he looks somewhat like a dear caught in the headlights.

Leonard knows the feeling.

"No." Jim answers. "No plans. Sorry to disappoint."

Leonard nods, and buttons his shirt back up. He thinks he might be blushing too; a glance in the mirror tells him that he definitely is.

"See you later, Bones." Jim says. He doesn't look at Leonard as he leaves, and his voice is wobbly.

"See ya, Jim." He murmurs. His voice is just as wobbly. He runs a hand through his hair to smooth it out, and sighs. He's a fucking idiot, letting himself get lost like that. He's gone and ruined it, he knows he has. He just hopes he'll see Jim soon.

~*~

But he doesn't see Jim for the next four days. Leonard works his shift at the store, at the hospital and he goes to his lectures, he even starts hanging around a little, dropping into Jim's store every now and again, but he never sees him. It's like he's dropped off the face of the earth.

Or he's avoiding him.

But he pushes that thought aside on the fifth day of radio silence, and he walks once more into Jim's store.

"Is he-"

"He's not here, Leonard." Nyota says. "He's through the back. And you know I can't let you in there."

Leonard nods, and he sighs. It's been the same every day so far.

"Has he said anything about me?" He asks. It's shallow, but he just has to know.

She shakes her head. "Not a word. He's been really quiet, actually."

Once again, Leonard sighs. "Thanks anyway, Ny."

"See you, Leonard!" She calls, turning to a customer a he leaves. He doesn't even have Jim's number. He can't call him. He doesn't know where he lives, so he can't go to visit him. He honestly doesn't know what to do. So he settles for doing what he's been doing every day for almost a week; he'll keep on visiting, hoping he gets lucky.

~*~

Another five days later, and he gets lucky.

It's a Sunday evening, and the mall is close to closing, but Jim storms into the store in a pair of ridiculous pastel blue jeans and the worst tank top he's ever seen, but the look on his face is determined.

"Let's go."

He drags Leonard by the wrist to the changing rooms, and lets him fuck him hard, and fast. It's over before he can barely register it, the rhythm of his hips faltering and falling as they rut against each other.

They make polite small talk as they get dressed and clean up, but it feels wrong. Forced. Things might be back to normal but Leonard's not sure that's a good thing.

Jim leaves with a bright grin that doesn't reach his eyes, and Leonard knows for a fact that something's wrong. Something's very wrong indeed.

~*~

But they keep this charade up for weeks.

Leonard rarely has to stop by Jim's store because Jim is always round at his, dragging him off to the changing rooms or into the stock cupboard or somewhere, anywhere with a hint of privacy where Leonard can fuck him, but it's always so forced.

Not the sex. No, the sex is always as good as it used to be. Jim pushes back against every thrust, clenches around him just as he used to, and still with three fingers worth of prep he's tight, and Leonard's orgasm is no different than it used to be.

But Jim is different now. There's a lot less flirting, a lot less talking. Before they were friends, as well as fuckbuddies. Now it seems they're not friends anymore.

"See ya, Bones!" Jim calls over his shoulder on the third week of what is frankly the worst time of Leonard's life- and he's been in college for six years already.

"See ya, Jim." He mutters, and he doesn't try to hide his frown as he watches Jim's retreating figure.

~*~

It's a month until he confronts him.

When Jim pulls him into the changing room and kisses him, he turns his back to strip, but Leonard turns him right back around.

"We gotta talk."

Jim's eyes widen, and they flash with alarm. Leonard knows fine well he's been trying to avoid this.

"What the hell've you been tryin' to pull, Jim? Y'know 'm not just in this for the sex, kid. Although it's pretty damn good."

Jim gives something of a grin then, but it doesn't stay. It fades, and he's alarmed again.

"You were my friend, and now you're actin' like nothin' but a cheap fuck, and I don't know what the hell to think-"

"You said you loved me." Jim interrupts, and Leonard stops. He pauses, and he scowls.

"Well if you didn't like it-" He says, looking away from Jim for a moment. "-you should have just said."

"But I did like it." Jim admits. "That's the problem."

Leonard's surprised. And it's obvious because he looks at Jim for a moment, trying to working out whether he's serious or he's just joking, pulling his leg, and when Leonard does go on about how much he loves Jim he'll say 'Ha! Can't believe you fell for it. What a loser, Bones, I'll see you never'. Or y'know, something like that.

"You did?" Leonard asks, looking for clarification.

Jim nods, and swallows, and it's something like a gulp. "I- yeah. I lo- I really like you, Bones."

It doesn't matter that he can't say it. Leonard's still smiling. "I really like you too."

Jim grins, and he's about to lean in for a kiss before Leonard pushes him back, hands pressed to his chest to separate them. "So what the hell have you been playing at? Treat me like a pariah for a week and then acted like nothin' was wrong. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was-" Jim sighs. "I was scared. I didn't want to... ruin things with you."

"I thought I had ruined things." Leonard murmurs.

"I thought you had to." Jim nods. "I spent a week thinking about what you had said, and how I felt, and when I realised that I- that I felt the same way, I tried to act like nothing was wrong jut in case you hadn't meant it. I didn't want to talk to you about it just to brush me off. I've been rejected a hell of a lot and I couldn't take it from you."

Leonard shakes his head, and sets his hands on Jim's hips to pull him back in when he had just pushed him away, kissing him softly and more sweetly than he ever has before.

And it takes a lot of fumbling, but they manage it, Jim's back pressed to the mirror and his face close to Leonard's so that he can catch his lips in occasional sloppy, clumsy kisses.

They clean up, they get dressed, and they close the store.

And then he finally learns where Jim lives, as he takes him home to do it all over again.


End file.
